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If a coach could draw up how he'd like a game to go, Friday's 4-1 victory by the Rochester Americans over the Toronto Marlies would be pretty close to that ideal script.

Score early (really early), add to the lead, withstand mid-game pressure, fend off one of the AHL's elite power plays, and then pull away in the third period. Along the way, have your young goaltender show poise and confidence -- and make a lot of saves.

The Amerks did just that. Dan Catenacci scored nine seconds into the game and Luke Adam continued to find the net by scoring his fourth goal midway through the period for a 2-0 lead.

The Marlies had plenty of pressure with their power play but couldn't score (0 for 6). And while a good portion of the game was played in the Amerks zone, coach Chadd Cassidy was quite content with the overall performance.

"I thought we did an excellent job limiting their time in our zone and then coming out of our zone with speed," Cassidy said.

Amerks coach Chadd Cassidy was pleased with the effort and execution in Friday's 4-1 win over Toronto.
Video by Kevin Oklobzija

Phil Varone said the Amerks had plenty of confidence "with the puck being in our zone."

The Marlies really turned up the pressure late in the second period, especially after Wade MacLeod's goal at 16:02. But the Amerks maintained their 2-1 lead at the intermission and took control in the third.

"That's unbelievable that you can be in a tight game like that and not be tested as much as you were in the first two periods," Lieuwen said.

Goals by Matt Ellis (Adam's redirection deflected in off of him) at 5:02 and Varone at 8:57 (after Chad Ruhwedel went him away on a breakaway) pushed the lead to 4-1 and the Amerks were in control and had a victory against their rival.

For just the second time in the past 19 meetings, the Amerks had a victory over the Marlies.

"They have different personnel but it's (still) a confidence boost, especially since we kind of took a beating last Saturday (a 5-1 loss in Syracuse)" Varone said.

The momentum came instantly as Catenacci scored on the game's first shift off a three-on-two fast break.

"I kind of joked with 'Elly' saying, 'Maybe you should get one on the first shift,' " Varone said. Instead, Alex Hutchings passed to Ellis, who passed to Catenacci, who fired a one-timer past goalie Garret Sparks on the short side.

"I think to come out flying and get one that quickly, it gets the whole team excited," Catenacci said.

Probably the coaching staff, too. The goal was pretty much the result of anticipation. The Amerks expected the Marlies to attack hard as the puck came into the Amerks zone.

"We knew they were going to come two-hard off the puck," Cassidy said.

The coaches made sure the defensemen, Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and Alexander Sulzer, knew it, and also that the wingers would be looking for an instant counter attack.

The puck was moved ahead, and away the Ellis line went for the goal.

"It hardly will ever work out like that again," Cassidy said.

Once was enough this night. The same crisp, clean breakout -- Gauthier-Leduc to Varone -- led to Adam's goal at 9:46. The fourth-year winger has four goals in four games -- and a team-leading 19 shots.

That's nearly three times more shots than any other Amerk; Jamie Tardif is second with 7. Tardif, by the way, missed the game due to illness. Other than than, no one has more than 5.

Gauthier-Leduc was very efficient on Friday. The second-year defenseman had one assist, was a plus-2 and used his stick and body positioning to slow or put an end to Marlies pressure.

"That's how he needs to continue to play," Cassidy said.

Not that plus/minus is an end-all/be-all, but Gauthier-Leduc is the only Amerks D-man with a positive number and leads the team at plus-3.

Much more important was winning on Friday. "We all knew they were 3-0 and we had a tough game in our last one (at Syracuse)," Gauthier-Leduc said. "I'm very proud of the boys."

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Former Amerks D-man T.J. Brennan had an assist on the Marlies goal but his three shots were stopped by Lieuwen, and he also missed the net a time or two.

His biggest impact was the impact he delivered, smooshing Amerks winger Kevin Sundher into the boards in front of the Rochester bench. (See photo accompanying the blog.)

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Cassidy decided earlier in the week that Lieuwen would be Friday's starter. The coach wasn't pleased with Matt Hackett's lack of composure Saturday -- three second-period minor penalties and then a game misconduct with 20 seconds left.

October has just seven games, so Hackett could have played them all. David Leggio did last year. But every team needs two goalies so they wanted to get Lieuwen playing time.

"You're going to need both your goalies at some point," Cassidy said. "One, we didn't feel it was a good thing to sit Nathan for a long period of time and then put him in there and expect him to be successful, and two, Matt needed to refocus after what happened last weekend ... hopefully this is a good opportunity for him to sit back and take it in a little bit and be ready to go next time."

He would not say whether next time will be in Saturday's home game against the Utica Comets.

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Rookie winger Johnny McGuire did not return to the ice after his first-period fight with Jamie Devane 5:05 into the game.

Cassidy said he suffered an upper-body injury (not a concussion) and the prognosis wasn't know Friday night.

Devane was the winner in the fight -- he's 3 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. That's the same player that broke Corey Tropp's jaw in a preseason fight in a Sabres-Maple Leafs game.

The second-year goalie made 36 saves in his first start of the season as the Amerks defeated Toronto, 4-1.
Video by Kevin Oklobzija

With dad, Patrick, in the stands, Frederick Roy played his part in a 4-1 win over Toronto.
Video by Kevin Oklobzija

Staff writer:
Kevin Oklobzija covers Rochester’s two oldest professional sports teams, hockey’s Rochester Americans and baseball’s Rochester Red Wings. He has been at the rink for Amerks hockey since the 1985-86 season and, after providing backup Wings coverage for many years, is now the full-time beat writer. A native of Minnesota and a graduate of St. Cloud State University, Kevin arrived in Western New York in June of 1985 and never left. Apparently he likes it here. He still believes National Lampoon’s Vacation may be the best movie ever made.